A young woman's severed head was found Friday on a mountain in Hiroshima Prefecture and police are investigating to determine if the victim is a female college student who vanished late last month in neighboring Shimane.
Investigators said the facial features "highly resemble" those of Miyako Hiraoka, 19, a freshman at the University of Shimane, who disappeared on the night of Oct. 26.
The head was discovered near the summit of 1,223-meter Mount Garyu in Kita-Hiroshima by a mushroom hunter at around 1:45 p.m., the police said. It was lying about 10 meters below a cliff near a road.
Because there was no blood near the spot where the head was found, the woman was believed slain and beheaded elsewhere, the police said. No belongings were found nearby.